Monday, September 26, 2011

Over the last few years, the issue that has inspired me to serve has been education. When I hear about a child receiving an inadequate education, I start thinking about lost opportunities. I truly believe that every child comes to earth with the same potential. Unfortunately, factors ranging from poverty to family/community values hold down endless numbers of children around the world. I often struggle to decide if my focus should be on assisting children in the United States or abroad; however, I know that I want to participate in work that allows me to widen the opportunities that children have.

One of the major things that I have discovered over the last few years is that in order to fix the education system adults need to be educated. In the inner city, many children are born into homes that are destined to keep them down because their parents are uneducated and do not know how to properly engage their infants in language. If I end up doing a project, this is one aspect of education that I would be interested in exploring - how to engage families before children begin school.

My main challenge that I have faced as I have become increasingly interested in exploring education is how to serve. I feel that there is so much I have to learn before I can actually address this issue; however, I feel that I have many strengths that may be useful. First, I consider myself to have an ability to listen, assess, and then focus on a specific root. If I could find an organization and professor that would be willing to help me find a root, I think that I would be an asset in conducting research. I also think that writing is a particular strenth of mine. In addition, I think that I am extremely empathetic but also have the ability to step back and think about the bigger picture.

In a recent assignment for Ingram, we wrote about what we thought service was. I agreed with my workgroup from orientation and wrote about how it was "the choice to give others choices." Currently, millions of children do not have enough choices. Social barriers are keeping them down. As I explore possibilities for projects, I want to make sure I find something that will give children choices.